Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts

[Cincinnatus]

Islamist insurgents retreating from Timbuktu set fire to a library containing thousands of priceless historic manuscripts, according to the Saharan town's mayor, in an incident he described as a "devastating blow" to world heritage.

Hallé Ousmani Cissé told the Guardian that al-Qaida-allied fighters on Saturday torched two buildings that held the manuscripts, some of which dated back to the 13th century. They also burned down the town hall, the governor's office and an MP's residence, and shot dead a man who was celebrating the arrival of the French military.

French troops and the Malian army reached the gates of Timbuktu on Saturday and secured the town's airport. But they appear to have got there too late to rescue the leather-bound manuscripts that were a unique record of sub-Saharan Africa's rich medieval history. The rebels attacked the airport on Sunday, the mayor said...

He added: "This is terrible news. The manuscripts were a part not only of Mali's heritage but the world's heritage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-library-ancient-manuscripts

In 640 AD the Moslems took the city of Alexandria. Upon learning of "a great library containing all the knowledge of the world" the conquering general supposedly asked Caliph Omar for instructions. The Caliph has been quoted as saying of the Library's holdings, "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous."

What kind of religion is it that, instead of civilizing and uplifting its adherents, turns them into such destructive barbarians?

[Rapunzel]

The Muslims are destroying the history of the region and not a peep about it from DC, EU....